


Life after Life

by werpiper



Series: KILIEL (for M-E values of) 4EVA [4]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Elves, Gen, Kindness, Third Wheels, is there a word in Elvish for "compersion"?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 13:24:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1173572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/werpiper/pseuds/werpiper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Legolas, mostly.  NOT A STANDALONE -- only makes sense in context of this fanfic series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life after Life

Legolas didn't know how sharp dwarves' ears were, but when he heard Tauriel weeping again, he sent them away. Perhaps the sight of his knife persuaded them, or something in his face, or perhaps they couldn't stand to hear an elf-woman crying either. But Legolas could not bring himself to leave. He slumped into the unforgiving stone outside the mourning-chamber's door, and prayed for the Secret Fire to burn, burn brightly, and keep Tauriel alive.

When he heard the second voice, he knew his prayers were answered, and perhaps the Ainur laughed at him as well. If what he heard both broke his heart and stirred his loins, what of it? He kept his vigil at the door, as if sculpted of stone himself, blade in his hands, ready to cut he knew not what.

When Kili said he didn't want to be King, Legolas came to his feet, and when Tauriel said something about children, he knocked hard at the door. "It's me," he said, and Tauriel called, "My friend, come in!"

The room still smelled of dead dwarves and incense, and two corpses still lay in state. It also smelled of sex and sharpening oil, and a (Legolas thought the word with edgy delicacy) couple sat naked on the floor. One was his comrade and captain, his friend in her many moods, his slender sapling crowned in autumnal glory. The other had recently been another corpse, and before that, a dwarf. Legolas held very still, did not shudder, and stepped inside.

Tauriel looked up at him, eyes wide and clear, more beautiful than ever. She studied him a moment, then smiled. "Thank you," she said simply. "I am so glad you would not have let me die."

"I was wrong," he said. "Yours is not the tale of Luthien, but," he paused, then said it: "Glorfindel." He studied the dark-haired dwarf. "Loravarnion?"

Tauriel laughed. "Kili," she said. "He has a name!"

"But not," Legolas went on, not quite looking at Kili, "a heritage he wants to keep?"

Kili was looking entirely away. "No. I gave my life for it, and that's enough. Let Dáin Ironfoot have this kingdom; he's earned it, and will rule better than me anyway." He hesitated. "Is Dáin alive? I don't remember..." he trailed off.

Legolas nodded. "Dáin's people hold the mountain, and his head bears the crown." With a sudden rush of pity he added, "The rest of your company survived as well."

Kili smiled. "Good. Erebor, after all!" But his expression twisted a little, and he added, "I suppose I shouldn't see them again, at least not right now. My friends will already have mourned me."

"What do you wish?" asked Tauriel.

Legolas flinched, which neither of them saw. Kili rolled his eyes and grinned at her, but said sensibly enough, "This battle's done and won. But I was thinking about the journey -- all orcs, and wargs, and spiders. There's worse in the world now than before, you said?" Tauriel nodded, and Kili went on, "I think we should fight against that."

Legolas said, "Mithrandir would know more -- Gandalf," he added, for Kili's sake. "He and Bilbo have left, returning to the Halfling's home. Though I do not think," he continued, "that they would travel through our forest again."

Tauriel, too, seemed to be considering. "I might best not go there either," she said. "I left against Thranduil's command, and I do not wish to return to it."

"I release you from your service, captain, with our gratitude," said Legolas, knowing he should. "You fought with honor, for greater good than your orders." Tauriel bowed her head and a little tension seemed to leave her, and Legolas was glad. He would answer to Thranduil for that.

Kili said, "It's our loss that Bilbo's gone; he got all of us out of your dungeon, but I don't know how I'm going to get out of here." He looked over his discarded armor. "I certainly can't walk out wearing that."

Legolas nodded, though he made a mental note. "I don't have your Halfling's gifts," he said, "but I would help you leave." Past that, who knew? These two would make for strange companions, but the world and the roads were full of strangenesses. "Tauriel, you'll want your things; they are in my camp. As for... I will speak to Dáin's quartermaster; some kit can be got."

Legolas went back to the door to stand guard. Tauriel and Kili arranged the armor where Kili had lain, hoping noone would examine it too closely before interring the biers in whatever tomb was intended. Then she dressed -- it was quickly and laughingly noted that they could not possibly share her clothes. Then Kili, whose nakedness had not previously seemed to dismay him at all, suddenly groaned. "My runestone," he said, "my mother.... I broke my promise."

"No, you haven't," said Tauriel. "You returned to me; you may keep your word to her yet. You don't need a rock to remind you." She reached out and gripped his shoulder. "Where does your mother dwell?"

"In Thorin's Halls," Kili answered, his voice cracking at the name, "near the Little Lune, in the Blue Mountains. We thought she'd come here, if we won, but... now...."

She knelt beside him, wiping his face with her sleeve. "We'll find her," she said, "and whatever she may have wished for crowns, she'll be glad to know you're alive."

Legolas did not allow himself to wonder if he was glad that Kili was alive. He busied his mind with the escape: could they bundle the dwarf in something (a cloak? a barrel?) and carry him out? They were small enough, but absurdly heavy. Could they disguise him as a different dwarf? He was, as Tauriel said, rather tall. Could he be passed off, just briefly, as a Man?

In the end, it did not matter. Kili took stock of his surroundings and decided their plan: his sense of stone would lead them from the mourning room through the crypts, and, he was certain, back outside soon enough. Kili showed the elves the curtained passage that led deeper into the caverns. He and Tauriel would wait for Legolas there.

It took Legolas some hours to prepare things, and when he returned to the chamber, it was full of dwarves again. He stood silently, uncomfortable with his bundles, and he wondered how at how blind the creatures seemed. They did not notice the overwhelming scents in the room, or even that one of the biers held only empty armor. It seemed to him as he waited that perhaps they were all only empty armor; the Sacred Fire having left King Thorin and Fili as dull earth. Then he realized it was only how he felt inside himself, as if some inner light had dimmed. He made himself stand patiently and wait, and ignore any dwarf who muttered or stared at his presence.

A little before the hour of dawn, Legolas stood alone again, and slipped quickly behind the curtain. Kili lay sleeping with his head in Tauriel's lap, and his former captain sat in the darkness, silent and alert and shining. She wakened Kili with a touch and Legolas handed him a pack. He opened it, and immediately exclaimed, "These are... mine!?"

"They were packed with your uncle's and brother's belongings," said Legolas, wondering if he should be more merciful, "waiting for your heirs, I suppose. But that Mr. Baggins is not the only thief in Middle-Earth, and I thought your things might give you comfort, and perhaps their lack be some strange comfort to...." he trailed off, not wanting to reveal the extent of his eavesdropping.

"Well," Kili seemed taken aback. "Thank you, prince of Mirkwood." He dressed quickly, and checked his weapons; Tauriel murmured something about making him new arrows. Then they were ready, Kili saying they would go without a light, that the black hallways were better than lamplit by the old worked stones. Tauriel was willing to follow him, but Legolas held her briefly in an embrace.

"Come back," he said, whispering quick and soft, "when, if he dies a mortal death -- still I would wish you in this world, and with me."

Tauriel looked Legolas in the eye, and he knew she loved him even as she left him, and that the long years of elves are uncountable to mortals. "I hope we meet again," she said, and that was enough for him. It had to be enough, for now, or for long years uncounted.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't get much feeling for Legolas in the movies, so I wrote some for him here. (He is lying to Kili; he is no thief. He went to Bombur, who was more or less the Company's quartermaster, and asked for Kili's things to give to Tauriel.)
> 
> I have no idea what they ever do wrt Dìs. Ask me and I may write more sometime :) -- but for now I think this is complete.
> 
> "Yéni únótimë" was the linguistic nails-on-chalkboard scrape for me in the LOTR movie (I've suppressed the memory of which one). I try to use it appropriately here in translation.


End file.
